salutatorian addressy Mr Sam on May 31, 2012
“Good morning and welcome. I am honored and pleased to have the privilege of speaking to all of you today. Being up here in front of the whole school body makes those nights of endless homework and sleep deprivation seem worth it.
For most of the students here, I believe today is an important day for two reasons. First, today ENDS a small part of our lives that we cherished. Second, it gives us a new beginning in which we are able to move a step forward in life. I stand before you trying to say something that would be meaningful and still keep your interest. When I entered Brent School about 6 years ago, I was just a little girl from a normal Korean family who could not speak English at all. I never expected to one day be standing up in front of all of you giving a speech. So I will just give you a little advice that I hope you can find something in my words to help you along your way in the future.
As many of you might think, being one of those at the top of your class is of course a result of getting all your work done in time, getting good GPA, or making the right decisions which could sometimes even require you to say no. But here is where I would really like to make my point. To be successful in what you do is far simpler when ‘you’ set up a goal to become what you want to be.
Throughout my life, I’ve learned to work toward goals set by myself which have encouraged me to succeed in both academics and sports. For instance, my dream was and still is to go to one of the top three universities back in Korea. To get there, I needed to get a Toefl score of above 110 out of 120, and high GPAs throughout the 4 years of high school. The goals I set establish an endpoint. Do not always expect your goals to be reached easily. Instead, have short-term goals to help you continually work at reaching them. A series of short-term goals may lead you up to the final accomplishment that you wished for. I first worked to get a GPA point of 3.0, then worked to get 3.5, then Bishop Brent. These short-term goals helped me get to the place where I needed to be in order to achieve my goal. I believe that without goals, there is nothing to reach for because there is nothing to keep you going.
For those of you who have done CAS, you may understand that the first thing you always do before starting any kind of project is to set up a goal – what you want to achieve through the project. For those of you who don’t know what CAS is, it’s a part of the IB program where students are required to do some community service projects like the POCCH outreach program which I just completed. I set goals to work with the orphanage children who I have never seen before. Through the goals I set up, I was able to provide positive help to these children, do a nice community service project, and satisfy my CAS requirements. By setting up these goals, I set a path for how to succeed. There were difficulties, but I continued to work and work until I met my goal.
Set high goals for yourself and strive to achieve those goals, as famous American Scholar once said “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.” There will be dark times with hardships and challenges. But always remember that the night is the darkest before the dawn. Set goals for yourself, believe in yourself, and work to achieve for yourself.
Thank you all for coming here today and listening to my words. Rather than a final farewell, I would like to wish the best of luck to all of you, and especially to the graduating class of 2012. Thank you again and always remember to believe in yourselves. Have a great summer and safe travels!”

y Mr Sam on May 31, 2012
“Good morning and welcome. I am honored and pleased to have the privilege of speaking to all of you today. Being up here in front of the whole school body makes those nights of endless homework and sleep deprivation seem worth it.
For most of the students here, I believe today is an important day for two reasons. First, today ENDS a small part of our lives that we cherished. Second, it gives us a new beginning in which we are able to move a step forward in life. I stand before you trying to say something that would be meaningful and still keep your interest. When I entered Brent School about 6 years ago, I was just a little girl from a normal Korean family who could not speak English at all. I never expected to one day be standing up in front of all of you giving a speech. So I will just give you a little advice that I hope you can find something in my words to help you along your way in the future.
As many of you might think, being one of those at the top of your class is of course a result of getting all your work done in time, getting good GPA, or making the right decisions which could sometimes even require you to say no. But here is where I would really like to make my point. To be successful in what you do is far simpler when ‘you’ set up a goal to become what you want to be.
Throughout my life, I’ve learned to work toward goals set by myself which have encouraged me to succeed in both academics and sports. For instance, my dream was and still is to go to one of the top three universities back in Korea. To get there, I needed to get a Toefl score of above 110 out of 120, and high GPAs throughout the 4 years of high school. The goals I set establish an endpoint. Do not always expect your goals to be reached easily. Instead, have short-term goals to help you continually work at reaching them. A series of short-term goals may lead you up to the final accomplishment that you wished for. I first worked to get a GPA point of 3.0, then worked to get 3.5, then Bishop Brent. These short-term goals helped me get to the place where I needed to be in order to achieve my goal. I believe that without goals, there is nothing to reach for because there is nothing to keep you going.
For those of you who have done CAS, you may understand that the first thing you always do before starting any kind of project is to set up a goal – what you want to achieve through the project. For those of you who don’t know what CAS is, it’s a part of the IB program where students are required to do some community service projects like the POCCH outreach program which I just completed. I set goals to work with the orphanage children who I have never seen before. Through the goals I set up, I was able to provide positive help to these children, do a nice community service project, and satisfy my CAS requirements. By setting up these goals, I set a path for how to succeed. There were difficulties, but I continued to work and work until I met my goal.
Set high goals for yourself and strive to achieve those goals, as famous American Scholar once said “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.” There will be dark times with hardships and challenges. But always remember that the night is the darkest before the dawn. Set goals for yourself, believe in yourself, and work to achieve for yourself.
Thank you all for coming here today and listening to my words. Rather than a final farewell, I would like to wish the best of luck to all of you, and especially to the graduating class of 2012. Thank you again and always remember to believe in yourselves. Have a great summer and safe travels!”

History[edit] First known selfie, taken by Robert Cornelius in 1839 Robert Cornelius, an American pioneer in photography, produced a daguerreotype of himself in 1839 which is also one of the first photographs of a person. Because the process was slow, Cornelius was able to run into the shot for a minute or more, and then replace the lens cap.[1] He recorded on the back "The first light Picture ever taken. 1839."[1][2] Woman taking her picture in a mirror, ca. 1900 The debut of the portable Kodak Brownie box camera in 1900 led to photographic self-portraiture becoming a more widespread technique. The method was usually with the use of a mirror and stabilizing the camera either on a nearby object or on a tripod while framing via a viewfinder at the top of the box.[3] Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna at the age of 13 was one of the first teenagers to take her own picture using a mirror to send to a friend in 1914. In the letter that accompanied the photograph, she wrote, "I took this picture of myself looking at the mirror. It was very hard as my hands were trembling."[4] The earliest usage of the word selfie has been traced to 2002 when it first appeared in an Australian internet forum (ABC Online) on 13 September in a comment written by Nathan Hope: "Um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped ofer and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie."[5][6] As with other new technologies, the protocols and etiquette for taking and disseminating selfies remains under development, with appropriate use a matter for consideration.[7] Popularity[edit] The term "selfie" was discussed by photographer Jim Krause in 2005,[8] although photos anticipating some of the formal aspects of the selfie can be seen in the self-taken photographs that were particularly common on MySpace. Writer Kate Losse proposes that between 2006 and 2009 (when Facebook became more popular than MySpace), the "MySpace pic" (typically "an amateurish, flash-blinded self-portrait, often taken in front of a bathroom mirror") became an indication of bad taste for users of the newer Facebook social network. Early Facebook portraits, Losse claims in contrast, were usually well-focused and more formal, taken by others from distance. According to Losse, improvements in design—especially the front-facing camera copied by the iPhone 4 (2010) from Korean and Japanese mobile phones, mobile photo apps such as Instagram, and selfie sites such as ItisMee—led to the resurgence of selfies in the early 2010s.[9] Buzz Aldrin took the first EVA selfie in 1966. Initially popular with young people, selfies gained wider popularity over time.[10][11] By the end of 2012, Time magazine considered selfie one of the "top 10 buzzwords" of that year; although selfies had existed long before, it was in 2012 that the term "really hit the big time".[12] According to a 2013 survey, two-thirds of Australian women age 18–35 take selfies—the most common purpose for which is posting on Facebook.[11] A poll commissioned by smartphone and camera maker Samsung found that selfies make up 30% of the photos taken by people aged 18–24.[13] By 2013, the word "selfie" had become commonplace enough to be monitored for inclusion in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary.[14] In November 2013, the word "selfie" was announced as being the "word of the year" by the Oxford English Dictionary, which gave the word itself an Australian origin.[15] Selfies have also taken beyond Earth. Selfies taken in space include those by astronauts,[16] an image by NASA's Curiosity rover of itself on Mars,[17] and images created by an indirect method, where a self-portrait photograph taken on Earth is displayed on a screen on a satellite, and captured by a camera.[18] In 2011 a crested black macaque stole a wildlife photographer's camera, and when the camera was later recovered it was found to contain hundreds of "selfies", including one of a grinning female macaque. This incident set off an unusual debate about copyright.[19] In October 2013, Imagist Labs released an iOS app called Selfie, which allows users to upload photos only from their front-facing smartphone camera.[20] The app shows a feed of public photos of everyone’s selfies and from the people they follow. The app does not allow users to comment and users can only respond with selfies. The app soon gained popularity among teenagers. In January 2014, during the Sochi Winter Olympics, a "Selfie Olympics" meme was popular on Twitter, where users took self-portraits in unusual situations.[21] The spread of the meme took place with the usage of the hashtags #selfiegame and #selfieolympics.[22] In April 2014, the advertising agency iStrategyLabs produced a two-way mirror capable of automatically posting selfies to Twitter, using facial recognition software.[23] The popularity of selfies in social media has been astounding.[24] Instagram has over 53 million photos tagged with the hashtag #selfie. The word "selfie" was mentioned in Facebook status updates over 368,000 times during a one week period in October 2013. During the same period on Twitter, the hashtag #selfie was used in more than 150,000 tweets. Christina Novelli taking a selfie during a concert in Honolulu, Hawaii San Francisco Giants fan taking a selfie in front of a bonfire during celebrations after the 2014 World Series Sociology[edit] The appeal of selfies comes from how easy they are to create and share, and the control they give self-photographers over how they present themselves. Many selfies are intended to present a flattering image of the person, especially to friends whom the photographer expects to be supportive.[10][11] However, a 2013 study of Facebook users found that posting photos of oneself correlates with lower levels of social support from and intimacy with Facebook friends (except for those marked as Close Friends).[25] The lead author of the study suggests that "those who frequently post photographs on Facebook risk damaging real-life relationships."[26] The photo messaging application Snapchat is also largely used to send selfies. Some users of Snapchat choose to send intentionally-unattractive selfies to their friends for comedic purposes. Posting intentionally unattractive selfies has also become common in the early 2010s—in part for their humor value, but in some cases also to explore issues of body image or as a reaction against the perceived narcissism or over-sexualization of typical selfies.[27] Celebrity selfies[edit] Former South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and footballer Ji So Yun Many celebrities – especially sex symbols – post selfies for their followers on social media, and provocative or otherwise interesting celebrity selfies are the subject of regular press coverage. Some commentators, such as Emma Barnett of The Telegraph, have argued that sexy celebrity selfies (and sexy non-celebrity selfies) can be empowering to the selfie-takers but harmful to women in general as they promote viewing women as sex objects.[28] Actor and avid selfie poster James Franco wrote an op-ed for The New York Times defending this frequent use of selfies on his Instagram page.[29] Franco defends the self-portrait stating they should not be seen as an egocentric act, but instead a journalistic moment as it cultivates a "visual culture, the selfie quickly and easily shows, not tells, how you're feeling, where you are, what you're doing", much like a photojournalist image.[29] Franco continued to write how peoples' social lives are more electronic, we become more adept at interpreting social media. And, as our social lives become more electronic, we become more adept at interpreting social media. A texting conversation might fall short of communicating how you are feeling, but a selfie might make everything clear in an instant. Selfies are tools of communication more than marks of vanity (but yes, they can be a little vain).[29] A selfie orchestrated by 86th Academy Awards host Ellen DeGeneres during the 2 March 2014 broadcast is the most retweeted image ever.[30][31] DeGeneres said she wanted to homage Meryl Streep's record 18 Oscar nominations by setting a new record with her, and invited twelve other Oscar celebrities to join them, which included Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Channing Tatum, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Spacey, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'o, Jared Leto and Jennifer Lawrence. The resulting photo of the celebrities broke the previous retweet record within forty minutes, and was retweeted over 1.8 million times in the first hour.[32][33][34] By the end of the ceremony it had been retweeted over 2 million times, less than 24 hours later, it had been retweeted over 2.8 million times.[31][32] As of 24 June 2014, it has been retweeted 3,415,871 times.[35] It beat the previous record, 778,801, which was held by Barack Obama, following his victory in the 2012 presidential election.[34][36][37] One person who loves to take selfies and is known as the "selfie queen" is Kim Kardashian. This year in 2014 she made a selfie book that consists of selfies throughout the whole year. She earned this title by taking the social media website Instagram very seriously and posting her selfies numerous times per week. She even has a set of rules that she goes by when taking the "perfect selfie." Politician selfies[edit] Bill Nye takes a selfie with US President Barack Obama and Neil deGrasse Tyson at the White House President Barack Obama made news headlines during Nelson Mandela's memorial celebration at the Johannesburg's FNB Stadium with various world leaders, as he was snapped taking a selfie and sharing smiles with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and later with British Prime Minister David Cameron, as they gathered to pay tribute to Mandela.[38] The decision to take the selfies was considered to be in poor taste, as British political columnist Iain Martin critiqued the behaviour as "clowning around like muppets".[38] The photos also depict the First Lady Michelle Obama sitting next to them looking "furious and mortified".[38] Despite the criticism, Roberto Schmidt, the photographer who captured the photos taken at the celebration, reported to the Today show it was taken at "a jovial, celebratory portion of the service".[39] In India, BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi posted a selfie on Twitter after voting in Gandhinagar, India. The post became a major trending item on the micro-blogging platform.[40] In July 2014, the Swiss government is the first to take and post a picture of an entire national government (the picture was taken by one of the seven members of the government, Alain Berset).[41] Group selfies[edit] A group selfie of tourists using a Selfie stick for a wider angle image. In January 2014, Business Insider published a story referring to such images as "usies".[42] A photograph of Pope Francis with visitors to the Vatican has been called an usie by The Daily Dot,[43][44] and TMZ has used the term to describe a selfie taken of celebrity couple Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.[42][45] The term "groufie" has been trademarked by Chinese phone manufacturer Huawei Technologies in China, France, Germany, Russia, and the U.S.[46][47] The word was introduced during the launch of its Ascend P7 smartphone in 2014.[48] Huawei defines the groufie as a panoramic selfie involving multiple subjects, as well as background scenery, captured using the front facing, 8-megapixel camera and panorama capabilities of its phones.[49][50][51] Another term for a group selfie is "wefie", originally trademarked by Samsung in the U.S. to promote the wide-angle lens of its NX series of cameras.[47][52][53][54] World record[edit] The world's largest group selfie included 2000 people and was taken on 23 November 2014 in Brooklyn, New York at the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries.[55] In popular culture[edit] In August 2013, The Guardian produced a film series titled Thinkfluencer[56] exploring selfie exposure in the UK. American dance music duo The Chainsmokers released a single #SELFIE in 2014. In August 2014, selfie was officially accepted for use in the word game Scrabble[57][58] From September to November 2014, the American television sitcom Selfie aired on ABC, telling the story of a woman trying to achieve fame through social media. Psychology and neuroscience[edit] According to a study performed by Nicola Bruno and Marco Bertamini at the University of Parma, selfies by non-professional photographers show a slight bias for showing the left cheek of the selfie-taker.[59] This is similar to what has been observed for portraits by professional painters from many different historical periods and styles,[60] indicating that the left cheek bias may be rooted in asymmetries of brain lateralization that are well documented within cognitive neuroscience. In a second study,[61] the same group tested if selfie takers without training in photography spontaneously adhere to widely prescribed rules of photographic composition, such as the rule of thirds. It seems that they do not, suggesting that these rules may be conventional rather than hardwired in the brain's perceptual preferences. In April 2014, a man diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder recounted spending ten hours a day attempting to take the "right" selfie, attempting suicide after failing to produce what he perceived to be the perfect selfie.[62] The same month brought several scholarly publications linking excessive selfie posting with body dysmorphic disorder.[citation needed] Injuries while taking photos[edit] In July 2014, a fourteen-year-old girl in the Philippines fell to her death after losing her balance while taking a selfie of herself and a friend near the staircase landing of their school in suburban Pasig City.[63] In August 2014, a fifteen-year-old boy was critically wounded after accidentally shooting himself while taking a selfie in which his other hand was holding a gun to his chin.[64] In November 2014 a Polish woman vacationing in Spain fell to her death while attempting a picturesque selfie from the Puente de Triana bridge in the city of Seville.

n the turbulent days in which France was transitioning away from Napoleonic rule, Edmond Dantes (Caviezel) and his closest friend, Fernand Mondego (Pearce), aspire to gain the same two things: the next captaincy of a ship in Morel's (Godfrey) Marseille-based shipping business and the hands of the lovely Mercedes Iguanada (Dominczyk).
Dantes and Mondego are diverted to Elba on a shipping mission because their captain requires medical attention. Assistance comes, unexpectedly, in the form of the personal physician of the exiled Napoleon (Norton). In return for the use of his doctor, Napoleon demands that Dantes deliver a letter for him and that the mission and the letter be kept a secret. Unknown to the illiterate Dantes, the letter will provide Bonapartists in Marseille information of pertinence to a possible rescue of Napoleon. Also unknown to him, Fernand has discovered and read the letter and has full knowledge of its contents.
On his return to France, Dantes' fortunes peak as Morel names him captain of one of his ships and an improved station in life prompts Edmond to propose to Mercedes, who accepts the offer. In the process of being beaten out of the two things that matter most to him in life, the jealous Fernand knows that the letter Dantes is carrying can be used to falsely implicate him in an act that might be viewed by local authorities as treasonous. Fernand, and his confidant, shipping colleague Danglars (Woodington), betray Dantes by making the magistrate Villefort (Frain) aware of the letter.
Dantes is taken by local authorities in front of Villefort. Despite his determination that Dantes is innocent of any crime, he becomes edgy upon learning that the letter was addressed to Noirtier Villefort, a known Bonpartist, and, consequently, a politically inconvenient father for a young man aspiring to a prominent law career in post-Napoleonic France. To eliminate all evidence that his father was involved in plans for an escape attempt by Napoleon from Elba, Villefort burns the letter and has Dantes arrested and taken to the Chateau D'If, a maximum security prison, where Dantes rots for over a decade, with no prospects of getting out in the imaginable future.
Dantes befriends a fellow prisoner named Abbe Faria (Harris), who is a great scholar and who, very gradually, transforms the unworldly Dantes into a wise, learned and cultivated man. Faria is an old man, however, and when he comes to realize that he is fatally ill, he tells Dantes of a great treasure and where it is buried.
Secretly placing himself in Faria's burial sack, which is to be thrown over the cliffs and into the river alongside the prison, Dantes manages to escape. After a dangerous ordeal in which he mingles with, but ultimately befriends, an enterprising, yet violent, group of smugglers led by Luigi Vampa (Blanc), he makes his way back to Marseille. Dantes now turns his attention to claiming the treasure Abbe Faria had referred to.
After locating the treasure, Dantes' riches are suddenly boundless, but rather than retiring to a life of leisure, his new raison d'etre is vengeance, with the objects of his revenge being Fernand (now a count), Danglars (now a baron), and Villefort (now a chief prosecutor), all of whom live in Paris. As they are now members of Parisian high society, Dantes realizes that to gain access to them, he'll need to reinvent himself, and uses some of his newfound riches to purchase a huge estate near Paris. He then proclaims himself to be the Count of Monte Cristo, and although nobody knows of him, his claim is very credible in view of his visibly substantial wealth.
The Count plans a party at his new estate and invites many members of Parisian high society, including all the objects of his vengeance. Now having considerable access to each of them, one at a time, he successfully sets them up for failure. Danglars is tricked into an act of embezzlement and Villefort is tricked into confessing to conspiracy to have his own father murdered within earshot of local authorities.
The Count gains close access to Fernand and Mercedes, who are now husband and wife, by paying the smuggler Luigi Vampa to pretend to kidnap their son, Albert. This enables the Count himself to save Albert. Having saved their son, the Count is now welcome in the home of Fernand and Mercedes.
Taking note of his mannerisms, Mercedes soon works out that the Count is actually Edmond Dantes, but the Count still has a bone to pick with her, as she married Fernand very shortly after his arrest and had Fernand's son, Albert (Cavill), not long after that. This seemed a sign of her infidelity, but the Count ultimately learns that Villefort had announced that Dantes was dead shortly after the onset of his imprisonment. Fernand, it turns out, had bargained for this announcement, from which he hoped to gain the hand of Mercedes, by murdering, at Villefort's request, Villefort's father. Now understanding that Mercedes had believed him dead, the Count is less incensed by her marriage to Fernand, but still finds the very short period of time between his imprisonment and their marriage very unsettling.
The Count is about to turn his back completely on Mercedes. But then, Fernand's financial ruin from compulsive gambling compels him to leave Paris to evade his debtors, against whom he has committed crimes. Unwilling to follow Fernand with their son, Mercedes, finally, tells the Count the truth ---- she had married Fernand because she had, unknown to the Count, been impregnated by Dantes shortly before he was arrested. She wanted Albert to have a father. In truth, however, Albert's biological father is the Count himself.
Finally willing to forgive her, the Count falls in love all over again with Mercedes, and, with those who had betrayed them out of the way, they resolve to live their lives, casting aside the dark and regrettable episodes which had robbed them of so many happy times with each other and with their son Albert.

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (/ˈrʌdjərd ˈkɪplɪŋ/ RUD-yəd KIP-ling; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)[1] was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist. He wrote tales and poems of British soldiers in India and stories for children. He was born in Bombay, in the Bombay Presidency of British India, and was taken by his family to England when he was five years old.[2]
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888).[3] His poems include "Mandalay" (1890), "Gunga Din" (1890), "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" (1919), "The White Man's Burden" (1899), and "If—" (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story;[4] his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".[5][6]
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in England, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[4] Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known."[4] In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date.[7] Among other honours, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he declined.[8]
Kipling's subsequent reputation has changed according to the political and social climate of the age[9][10] and the resulting contrasting views about him continued for much of the 20th century.[11][12] George Orwell called him a "prophet of British imperialism".[13] Literary critic Douglas Kerr wrote: "He [Kipling] is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled. But as the age of the European empires recedes, he is recognised as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced. That, and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with."[14]pamatnubay

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (/ˈrʌdjərd ˈkɪplɪŋ/ RUD-yəd KIP-ling; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)[1] was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist. He wrote tales and poems of British soldiers in India and stories for children. He was born in Bombay, in the Bombay Presidency of British India, and was taken by his family to England when he was five years old.[2]
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888).[3] His poems include "Mandalay" (1890), "Gunga Din" (1890), "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" (1919), "The White Man's Burden" (1899), and "If—" (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story;[4] his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".[5][6]
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in England, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[4] Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known."[4] In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date.[7] Among other honours, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he declined.[8]
Kipling's subsequent reputation has changed according to the political and social climate of the age[9][10] and the resulting contrasting views about him continued for much of the 20th century.[11][12] George Orwell called him a "prophet of British imperialism".[13] Literary critic Douglas Kerr wrote: "He [Kipling] is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled. But as the age of the European empires recedes, he is recognised as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced. That, and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with."[14]